If his freedom of speech is not a Good Thing then what's wrong with the government locking people up for their comments on Fark?

"I disagree with this government policy."

"To North Dakota for you! You'll help to build the death camps, then we'll shoot you."

By the way, this is no more hyperbole than calling the Joker's Colorado outburst "one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history." After all, if in 1999 I'd have predicted TSA screenings at US airports people would have chided me about my "tinfoil beanie."

advex101:Vangor: Whatever. He is upset about the election and is not hurting the flag at all. Plus, he served for many years. He is entitled to this though I disagree with his position and his expression.

He served for 7.5 years, his neighbor served for 26.

"In War, there are no unwounded soldiers".This is not a race measured in service years.A critical part of the military learning experience is understanding quanity/quality.

Vangor:Whatever. He is upset about the election and is not hurting the flag at all. Plus, he served for many years. He is entitled to this though I disagree with his position and his expression.

As a current active duty member of the Core, I think he needs to pull his head out of his ass.

Flying the flag upside down is a sign of deep distress for a ship, a unit, or the country. He is personally upset that that a candidate of his choice was defeated in a relatively fair, open, and democratic process. There were no riots in the streets, there were no bombings at polling stations, and it sounds like voter intimidation was minimal.

Our country is not in distress, our country just showed that we can still hold to our ideals in the face of some determined efforts to undermine them. His hissy fit over candidate selection does not rate a flag upside down. He is not the United States, and his political party is not the United States. The flag belongs to us all. He is being dis-respectful to the flag, and to the members of the armed forces who have died trying to help people in Iraq and Afghanistan have elections as smooth and fair as ours just was.

"It's very disturbing... you know 26 years in the Navy, current Navy guy and I thought it was an accident," says Mike Walter, who lives down the street from Hoezel. "Then I did a little research and I realized people are doing this in protest and I just can't believe that on Veterans Day you would be so petty as to fly your flag upside down."

This^

The guy is 100% entitled to fly it upside down and I'll share my opinion of being disappointed with the timing and method of his dissent.

AverageAmericanGuy:This country is in trouble. It's been in trouble for over a decade now.

People are still out of work and even those who have found work are underemployed.

The dollar has been in the basement for two years now, and no significant tick up of exports has accompanied that.

China is openly threatening our allies in Asia.

The Mexican drug war is banging on our front gates and seems ready to spill into the southern states.

The country is in trouble, and highlighting that with the sign for distress is reasonable.

We are in the basement, but finding the stairs.The rest of the world, mostly out in the coldThis bank job was rough. But, we been stole from before, and we will be stole from again.You could slow that day's approach by setting the dogs loose on Wall Street and the Pentagon.We got Petraeus, it is a start.

Our country can't even afford to service the interest on our debt.You are an ignorant, disconnected, useless waste of skin of you don't comprehend that the U.S. is in more "distress" now than ever before.He is justified in his configuration of the flag, as we are collectively in distress, and if you don't realize this you are part of the collective denial.

A member of our American Legion has worn his upside down for years now (pre-Obama just FYI). He believes that our nation is in a state of distress. He's free to think as he wishes. Still wont turn down a game of pool with him. He's a good guy with a lot of well thought out beliefs.

AverageAmericanGuy:This country is in trouble. It's been in trouble for over a decade now.

The Mexican drug war is banging on our front gates and seems ready to spill into the southern states.

LA TImes had an article that there was an expectation that the vote legalizing pot in two states last Tuesday would cut billions off the Mexican cartels profits since suppliers would probably turn to semi-legal pot from the States rather than risk crossing the border. They thought it could cut billions off the cartels' bottom line.

Nightsweat:LA TImes had an article that there was an expectation that the vote legalizing pot in two states last Tuesday would cut billions off the Mexican cartels profits since suppliers would probably turn to semi-legal pot from the States rather than risk crossing the border. They thought it could cut billions off the cartels' bottom line.

What a joke. Who believes Colorado was importing billions worth of weed from Mexico?

Gotta love the Jacksonville area. This area is so deeply red we may as well be annexed by Georgia.

This man has a right to free speech. If it's OK for other protest groups to burn the flag, it's OK for him to throw his little hissy-fit and fly his flag upside-down. I have a right to roll my eyes at his "protest".

Nightsweat:AverageAmericanGuy: This country is in trouble. It's been in trouble for over a decade now.

The Mexican drug war is banging on our front gates and seems ready to spill into the southern states.

LA TImes had an article that there was an expectation that the vote legalizing pot in two states last Tuesday would cut billions off the Mexican cartels profits since suppliers would probably turn to semi-legal pot from the States rather than risk crossing the border. They thought it could cut billions off the cartels' bottom line.

I've been saying this for a while. I don't know the exact stat, but the bulk of the drugs being run across the border is marijuana. Legalize it here in the US, tax & regulate it, and help put the cartels out of business while you're at it.

Nightsweat:AverageAmericanGuy: This country is in trouble. It's been in trouble for over a decade now.

The Mexican drug war is banging on our front gates and seems ready to spill into the southern states.

LA TImes had an article that there was an expectation that the vote legalizing pot in two states last Tuesday would cut billions off the Mexican cartels profits since suppliers would probably turn to semi-legal pot from the States rather than risk crossing the border. They thought it could cut billions off the cartels' bottom line.

There are a couple problems with that. First being that marijuana is still illegal at the Federal level, so there isn't any legal interstate commerce allowing it to be imported from WA or CO. Second, the users aren't only living in WA and CO. The number of users living outside those two states far outnumber those two. Third, even if the supply from WA and CO were sufficient to fulfill the demand throughout the country, the very fact that the producers were legal and subject to licensing means that they would be loath to jump back into the gray zone by distributing across state lines.

Now, there might be smuggling to bring American-grown pot to the rest of the states, but now we're talking about competing with the Mexican drug cartels for marketshare, and if the past decade has shown us anything it's that they take competition very seriously.

I just don't see the problem of Mexican drugs going away or even being mitigated in states that don't have decriminalization.